I picked up a gun to be used. A 1975 Winchester 94. It has specks that look like they started as rust and then got steel wooled off. In fact I did it again. Typical places where the receiver was carried. My Oxpho blue is gone. That stuff has worked very well for me. I've read that the post 64 receivers are tough to reblue. Has anyone used Oxpho to touch up these receivers?

I may have tried Ox and some heat at one time but for me it doesn't wear well. I ended up buying a small compressor and a air brush. Ordered Steve Lauers weapon paint in od green and took metal down to bare bones. In short that stuff wears like iron. Probably not what you want to read but that 94 is a favorite. Killed a lot of moose.

I've used the stuff with good results though never on a 94. Some of the post-64 94s, as I understand it, are tough to refinish ad I've heard guys describe the receivers as having been made out of mystery metal. That may cause you problems from the get go.

Probably won't work on a '94 from that year..

Here's some info that may help:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/questions-about-restoring-a-winchester-94.229432/

I have post-64 top eject. Bluing wore off, would rust in high humidity weather. Receiver wouldn't take bluing anyway.

Sent it to Lauer to have it Duracoated about 7 years ago. Great finish.

Not necessarily a suggestion, but here's what I did to beat that weird alloy once. I bead blasted the receiver and then had it electroless nickled, ended up a soft gray color. I then blued every other visible part of the gun. When re-assembled it had a striking appearance- the blued parts against the electroless nickle made for a pleasing contrast. It endured some nasty weather, and still looked great years later when I sold it.

Very good idea...

Thanks for the tips, guys. $15 shipping on a $9 bottle of Oxpho Blue. Going to wait until I need to order more before trying. Not bad for it's intended use now. I'll check schedule n if I get around to trying it.

I had one (customer's gun) would not blue the receiver, I tried and tried, finally sent it to Fogle's in Ohio - GREAT JOB!!! I am not set up for hot re-bluing, and I highly recommend Loren for the job!

Has anybody here ever draw filed/polished the pits out of one of those receivers and then tried to rust blue it? Just wondering.

I've tried cold bluing 2 70's era 94's.

The first one was way before the internet and before I knew any better. I used Birchwood Casey blue because K-Mart had it and as I said, I didn't know any better. Who ever owned the rifle before me had sanded the receiver shiny, I always figured to try to give it a custom look as nothing else was touched or rusted. It actually dulled the metal but was never a deep finish. It looked almost original with very thin bluing on the receiver. Every couple of years I would give it another coat or two. It did help to keep rust at bay.

The second one was a basket case I got for next to nothing that needed just a couple of parts and a bunch of tlc. I bought it with the intention of fixing it and moving it along for a profit. I tried Oxpho Blue on it and it wouldn't cover. Thinking back to the Birchwood Casey I tried it, it wouldn't cover either.


Since I knew I wasn't keeping it I resorted to some of the Brownells spray and bake stuff. It covered but the black just looked ugly to me. The man who bought it seemed to think it was a thing of beauty.

To each his own I guess.

Yes, Wish I had some pics.

Gonna' have to sleep on just WHY the patron / friend loved it so,....I'm recollecting that I weren't overwhelmed.
I DID mask it with epoxy, and hit it with very aggressive Al-O, or some of that Arizona slag, ....prior to going after the rest of the clean up.

Gotta' say the Hot Blue colors don't bother me in the least,....but I'm long GONE from that racket, and ain't returning there.

GTC

Oxpho Blue won't work on a 94 receiver

FWIW, have used Oxpho Blue a fair number of times the last 10 or so years. Most of the time it was for rebarreled rifles built on a mauser action, but there were none mauser action rifles too.

Anyway, learned that a barrel took Oxpho blue pretty good and generally turned out pretty nice. The heat treated/hardened receiver done with Oxpho never looked as good as the barrel.

However, did examine a barreled action once, belonging to a gun store owner. It had been a beat up, shot out barrel bolt action rifle he'd had in a used rifle section for awhile. He'd given it to a gunsmith he used, to be rebarreled. The rifle was going to be his truck rifle, hanging on a rack in its rear window and etc. Told the gunsmith, don't even blue it or anything. When he picked up the barreled action, it'd been blued by the gunsmith. Gunsmith explained to the gun owner, rifle turned out too nice and I just had too blue it for you (using Oxpho)....no charge for it. The gunsmith must have dunked the barreled action in a vat of Oxpho and let it soak for awhile. It was quite a remarkable finish on the rifle.